Translations for tense in French

Here are paragraphs from public domain books translated:

"Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than thirty.

Hier, pourtant, juste au moment où je m’apprêtais à quitter le bureau, mon commis entra pour me dire qu’un monsieur désirait me voir. Il me tendit une carte qui portait le nom du colonel Lysander Stark et presque en même temps je vis entrer le colonel lui-même. C’était un homme d’une taille au-dessus de la moyenne, mais d’une maigreur telle que je crois n’en avoir jamais vu de semblable. Son nez et son menton faisaient saillie sur sa figure en lame de couteau et la peau de ses joues était tendue sur ses pommettes très accentuées. Cette maigreur extrême semblait être son état naturel, et non l’effet d’une maladie, car son œil était brillant, son pas rapide, son allure assurée. Il était simplement mais correctement vêtu, et paraissait approcher de la quarantaine.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle

Les Aventures de Sherlock Holmes, de Arthur Conan Doyle